2010 Tournament Circuit Question

[Duke]

Many of you know I and Kevin Rybicki will be running our own weekend circuit next year and we have begun the preparations. We have one area we're having trouble determining though and I need your feedback!

Dealing with the payback. We are going to either payback 90 or 100% for every tournament! So here's my question: would you rather see bigger paybacks for 1 out every 6 teams or smaller, but more, payback for 1 out of every 4 teams? Even in the second option though, first place would get 50% of the pot, but then it will drop significantly. The first option would have a higher payback for all spots.

Comments are also welcome, but please vote on the pole!

[gr@ssmonkey]

were are u guys having these tourneys(what lakes or what lakes are u looking at)............thanks for throwing a paying tournament,i'll be watching for u guys next year!!!!!

[Duke]

Southern Michigan & Northern Indiana. Haven't finalized any lakes but will likely announce those in early November.

[squid]

On the opens that I have run and will still run, I have been asked if I am doing this for fun, or to make $$$.  If you throw a tournament, that is straight up cash, with no plaques or trophies, or any other kinds of prizes, you are just running it for fun.  If you are thinking of making some small $$$, remember the cost of advertising and printing. 

The first tournament that I put on in April with 90% payback, I came out with just $70.  If I had planned on plaques, that would have cost me more $$ than I made.  A cheap nice looking plaques set is about $75 with 1st - 3rd and big bass award.

Just a little info for you Duke.

[TritonTR20]

Could care less about plaques. I have more than I know what to do with already. Would rather throw that money into the pot rather than buy trophies, etc.

[Duke]

Squid: I appreciate some of your insight, I realize you have some experience doing this already. We realize the expenses, but we're not out to make money really. We hope to cover costs and that's about it. We will also have a 50/50 at each event and if we get $25, that would be good enough for us. Our whole objective is to create something for the anglers that does not promote a tournament director or a national circuit (no offense intended towards NBAA ).

We've talked plaques, but will probably hold back until the classic.

Bob, that's a good problem to have!

I appreciate everyone's feedback!

[dashaver63]

The circuit I'm currently fishing is mostly for us to get together twice a month, but here's what we do. 50% of the entry fee's have been put back for the championship and we pay top 3. It's not a lot of money, $40.00 per tournament plus $5 for big bass and the winning team doubles their money. Now when we fish the championship next Sunday, everyone pays their entry fee and the pot for the tournament has close to $2000.00 in it. Not bad for a 10 team circuit. If you want to sacrifice the payout through out the season to hold a really good year end, thats the way to go. Plus we stipulated that to be eligible for the year end, you had to fish 4 of the 5 tournaments to make sure everyone was contributing to the pot.

[ROI Outdoors]

You could always mix it up - have a couple top heavy payout tourneys and a couple with say 1 spot for every 5 to 6 boats.  Obviously you can never please everyone; either way if you pay back 90% to 100% I will be at as many of your events as possible.  I am doing something similiar this year with 96% to 100% paybacks and it hasn't taken off or anything but it is nice to finally have some tournaments for fisherman by fisherman!  What Lakes are SW Mich and Northern IN are you thinking about hitting?  Also if you don't want to pay for a website I'd would love to help advertise these for you - I can't wait for one of these 90-100 to draw 50 plus boats; when anglers finally understand the concepts and grasp the current payout structures of the "popular circuits" it will be a whole new game!

[squid]

(no offense intended towards NBAA ).

None taken.  That is why I like running my opens.  It is a lot of fun, but can be frustrating too....it all depends on how the anglers are doing that day...lol

[ROI Outdoors]

Who is NBAA?  Seriously though in my opinion there are mainly 2 types of anglers that tournament fish these days - you have the type that isn't motivated by money or potential winnings because they aren't trying to win they are simpling trying to enjoy themselves, the other type are the money/winnings motivated ultra competitive anglers who fish because they want to beat everyone and prove something.  There are a few in between but I think the majority of available anglers (Non-committed) are the first type mentioned above; not because they are greater in number but because a good percentage of them are already committed to circuits like the Stren Series, Lake Drive, or BFL's.  I know there is a way to attract both types to show up I just haven't quite figured it out yet!  I think if the anglers that want better payouts and some new options get together it will grow really quick.  If there is any advertising you can think of that you want done on-line at NO COST let me know.

[Duke]

We haven't decided the lakes yet, but if we had, I still wouldn't give that information out yet. However, a couple of lakes that have been mentioned are as follows: 

Paw Paw
Coldwater
Maxinkuckee
Webster
St. Joe River
Diamond
Manitou
James
Gun
Gull

and everything in between is an option.

What kind of free advertising can you offer? We will have a website, but don't anticipate that being up and running until November.

[TCook]

Paw Paw any time of year and the benton harbor stretch of the st joe river in the spring or fall on the schedual would get me interested with a 90-100% payback.

[ROI Outdoors]

Duke, I just had a 2 page essay typed up for you with Political Analogies and all sorts of good stuff about what ROI Outdoors is trying to do with the tournament scene and I clicked on a new tab in my browser and poof 30 minutes gone!  If you have some time tomorrow or later this week give me a call @ 616-558-6133 to discuss the advertising piece.